Legendary Ohio State Buckeye football Coach Woody Hayes was famous for his run-dominated offense of "three yards and a cloud of dust" play after play until defenses (and the game clock) were running on zero.

In Chapel Hill and Carrboro, that be better stated as: "Three yards and a cloud of mist and mud."

All squads sponsored by Chapel Hill and Carrboro recreation departments compete in the Central Piedmont Youth Football League, facing such daunting eastern division competition as Orange County, both East and West Chatham, and two Downtown Durham Athletic Association squads. Chapel Hill and Carrboro field seven teams between them, ranging from 5-year-old flag-football enthusiasts to 11-12-year-olds.

'Titanic' start in Chapel Hill

The Chapel Hill 5-6 year old Titan flag football squad (2-1) rebounded from an opening round loss to Ramseur to post two consecutive victories in decisive fashion, including a 31-12 pasting of the DDAA Firebirds last Saturday.

"We're a different team," Titan flag coach and UNC football alum Errol Hood said. "We only had four returning players, and a lot of folks didn't know that it was a physical game-kids get knocked down-so we started bringing blocking dummies to practice."

The Titans returned their big scorer in Hood's son Caleb Hood, who scored 22 touchdowns last year and has already scored a half-dozen in 2009.

"We've also got Corey Peterson, Jaylan, and Elijah," he said. "With those three going up the middle, no one can do anything."

"We've also got a great quarterback in Bryce Clark," Hood said. "His dad played quarterback in high school. He's been working with Bryce, and he's gotten real comfortable there."

Hood said good blocking started with his center.

"Corey Freeman in our center," Hood said. "The biggest difference in our team this year is our center. He can get us the ball for shotgun, and he's been consistent this year."

We have a coach, Lester Fortney, who played offensive line at Navy," Hood added. "He's come out with his son Jackson Fortney, and he's been a nice addition to our team."

The Chapel Hill 7-8 Titan squad (0-2) is "definitely working on a lot of running. we're going away from the pass a bit," Coach John Cheek said. "We're also fine-tuning our defense some."

Unlike its Carrboro counterpart, the Chapel Hill 7-8 squad benefits from its 5-6-year old flag program.

"We started with 30 kids this year, so we're really trying to grow the program," he said."We've got a great quarterback this year in Alex Turner," he said. "We're a good running team with great offensive linemen ... like Kevin Ivory. Chandler Alston is a great running back."

Off to a slow start, the 0-2 Titans' 9-10-year old squad was nevertheless improving quickly, Coach Joe Green said.

"For about half the guys on the team, this is their first time playing competitive football," Green said. "Right now, we're running the wishbone and just trying to work on sportsmanship and football fundamentals as we go."

Green cited the fine play of skill position players Zack Lapada, Quentin Tyler, and Jordan Sanders, while also noting the importance of lineman Daniel Malawsky.

In The Middle

With ambitious middle school football programs in the area, both Carrboro and Chapel Hill squads lose many potential veterans on their 11-12 teams to the seventh- and eighth- grade school squads, unlike some other teams in the league.

After shouldering the short end of some early season tests, the 11-12 Titans were 0-3, but coach Scott Ragland said the players were holding their heads high.

"We're improving and we're ready to go," he said. "We run the ball a lot, we've got some quickness in the backfield and an 11-year old quarterback playing the position for the first time (Jacob Zurbuch), who's a smart kid, who works hard and has a lot of natural ability.

"In the backfield, we've got Jaylan Watson at tailback, and it's Sam Bauers playing halfback," Ragland added. "All the guys in our trenches are key: George McBurney, Grant Booterbaugh, our center Ethan Malawsky, and Hudson Price. Jared Riley is one of my best linemen.

"Sam Bauers also plays linebacker, and William Ragland has made some nice tackles on sweeps at cornerback. We've got twins, Sean and Dahnte Scott, and they're a couple of our better players along with Jones Bell, who comes here every practice after running cross country at Phillips."

Carrboro vs. Carrboro

Without a coach for the first few weeks of the practice season in August, the 9-10 Carrboro Falcons first faced the toughest foe it's likely to see all year: the Carrboro Cougars, with whom the youngest team practiced day-in and day-out.

"They had to play tough," Coach Raheem Scott said. "There were those who were ready to walk away. They'd been only playing against bigger kids, and they were pretty nervous."

Impressive also was this past Saturday's 32-0 victory over West Chatham to even the Falcons' record at 1-1.

"A lot of these kids have never played the game before, so for them to come out here and just start out playing organized football means they're already learning a lot," Scott said. "Jacob Anders was playing with us last year," he explained. "T.K. Paisant was playing flag football (for Chapel Hill) last year. We have Jasper Ludington, we've got Matt Barajas ... those are my skill players.

"Making holes for us, we have Andrew Holmes, Jeffrey Marcin, Will Bryan, and Jesse Blue. We've got some good kids playing out here."

Speedy At 2-0

Coach Nick Jones' Carrboro Cougars (2-0) are off to a quick start in league play this year with victories over the DDAA Firebirds (12-7) and West Chatham (13-0), riding high on a wealth of talent in the backfield.

"We've probably got eight running backs that could easily be starting for any other teams in the league," Jones said. "We've got a lot of speed in the backfield."

Jones was high on the play of Kahlil Hill, Juan Shaw, Liam Ludington, tailback (and son) Nick Jones, and McCabe Watson, with Justin Marsh at quarterback.

Paving the way for backs were standout linemen Joe Trimmer, Nick Mitchell, and Keegan Edwards.

Learning As They Go

After opening with 13-12 heartbreaking loss versus the DDAA Firebirds, the 11-12 Mustangs (1-1) regained focus during a bye week and won 40-12 on Saturday.

Weighing in on the last effort was much-improved line play, enabling a touchdown by RB/QB Darius Horton, a pair of touchdowns by both RB Blake Harris and quarterback Harrison Young, a nifty TD catch by John Walden, a pair of catches by sure-handed Jethro Cohn, and some tough running by Andrew Cuffe.

"You learn from wins and losses, and that first game was as close as you can get to both a win and a loss," Coach Andy Dodson said. "We know what we did wrong, though, and we've corrected it."

"We to play smash-mouth football," Dodson noted. "In the trenches, we've got some warriors. Bobby Russell is a warrior, Jack Ryan is a warrior, and Logan St. Clair is a warrior: these are guys that have been at practice, been at all the camps, and put in all the work."

- chn -